Rounds feeding device



Feb. 4, 1947.

D. w. MOLINS ROUNDS FEEDING DEVICE Filed June 10(1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 1at/0 w m ROUNDS FEEDING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2AMw-ML Imam. inc-4...,

Feb. 4, 1947. p, w, ouNs 2,415,144

ROUNDS FEEQING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I I ,fnv'enz'o 's I 0M4 m BY TTo RIVE'Y Patented Feb. 4, 1947 UNITED ROUNDSFEEDING DEVKCE.

Application June 10, 1944, Serial No. 539,737 In Great Britain June 1'7,1943 1 Claim. (01. 89-34) This invention concerns improvements in orrelating to ordnance.

The invention is concerned with ordnance having a receiver for rounds,and in which a row of rounds placed in the receiver is arranged to befed transversely to the length of the rounds along a fixed path andhaving a presser device arranged to be movable in the direction of feedto feed the rounds along the fixed path, and to be capable of beingwithdrawn behind a row of further rounds subsequently placed in saidreceiver. For convenience, such ordnance will be referred to herein asan automatic gun.

When operating an automatic gun it is sometimes desired that the roundsshould be fed continously, and to maintain a continuous feed it isnecessary that while the rounds placed in the receiver are being fedalong the fixed path by the presser-member, a further row of roundsshould be inserted into the receiver, so that when the presser-device iswithdrawn it may immediately begin to feed such further row of rounds.It is also desirable that such further row of rounds inserted into thereceiver should be kept as close as possible to the row of rounds beingfed, so that when the presser-device is withdrawn there may be as smalla gap as possible between the two rows of rounds. It is an object ofthis invention to provide means whereby the presserdevice may bewithdrawn without substantially enlarging such small gap between the tworows of rounds.

According to the present invention there is provided an automatic gunwherein the presserdevice has pivoted thereon a round engaging pawlwhich is spring-urged to move against a stop and into the said fixedpath for the rounds at a position in advance of its pivot, whereby onwithdrawal of the presser-device the pawl can ride over rounds locatedbehind it and snap back when behind the last round in the receiver andwherein there is provided a catch device (e. g. spring-urged catches) atthe entrance of the receiver to prevent displacement of rounds as thepawl is withdrawn. The pawl may be curved, its convex surface beingarranged to engage a round to feed it through the receiver.

Feeding mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention will nowbe described by way of example with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an automatic gun embodying theinvention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of parts of the ammunition receiver thereofshowing the invention in more detail.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the round engaging pawl shown in Figure3.

Referring to Figure 1, the gun as illustrated is,

apart from the features appertaining to the in-' vention and describedbelow, identical with that described and shown in the specification ofcopending United States patent application Serial No. 488,454, filed May25, 194:3, and only those parts necessary for the proper understandingof the present invention will be referred to herein and these parts bearthe same references as in the specification referred to.

The receiver 20 for rounds comprises a number of upper and lower guideplates, the latter shown at I02 and I86 in Figs. 2 and 3, arranged toreceive between them a single row of rounds R lying side by side withtheir axes substantially parallel to the barrel 2 of the gun, saidplates forming a fixed path for said rounds. At one end of thisreceiver, towards which the rounds are to be moved, further mechanism,of which the principal feature is a rammer l2, is arranged to act on around arriving thereat in order to feed it into the breech.

A presser arm 2| pivoted at one end at H]? is disposed above thereceiver, and is linked to a spring barrel device H3 in such a way as tobe spring-urged to swing on its pivot across the receiver in thedirection in which rounds therein are to be moved that is as indicatedby the arrow A in the various views. A handle 250 is provided on thepresser-arm so that it may conveniently be withdrawn manually towardsthat end of the receiver into which the rounds are placed.

The presser arm carries at its free end a curved pawl 25! which extendsdownwardly into the path of the rounds in the receiver and replaces theroller N8 of the aforesaid specification. This pawl is pivotally mountedon a cylindrical extension l2l at the end of the presser arm. A torsionspring I22 surrounding the cylindrical part of the presser arm isarranged to press the pawl downwardly about its pivot. On thecylindrical part of the presser-arm there is fixed a collar I23 whichhas a dog formed thereon, which dog engages with a second similarlyshaped dog 252 on the pivoted head I26 to which the pawl is fixed.Engagement of these two dogs limits the downward movement of the pawl toa position at which it is capable of engaging a round. Upward movementof the pawl about its pivot is similarly limited, but the pawl iscapable of being raised 3 by the thumb piece 25iA (Figs. 3 and 4),against the pressure of the torsion spring, out of the path followed bythe rounds being moved through the receiver whereby the pawl 25I may bemoved in either direction to the rear of or ahead of the rounds.

The curved pawl is so mounted on the presserarm that it extends awayfrom the presser arm in the direction in which the rounds are to bemoved through the receiver, and so that a part of its convex surface isarranged to press against a round so as to push it through the receiver.Thus the pawl enters the fixed path for the rounds at a position inadvance of its pivot so that when the presser arm is withdrawn the pawlwill swing up against its spring by engagement with any rounds which mayhave been placed behind it in the receiver, and so ride over suchrounds. When the presser has been withdrawn behind the last round thepawl will snap back again into the fixed path and be ready to press thelast round when the presser arm is released.

In order to prevent the rounds subsequently placed in the receiver frombeing pushed back when the presser arm is withdrawn, a spring catchdevice is provided at that end of the receiver at which the rounds areinserted. The device comprises two pivoted catches 253 urged by torsionsprings 254 to project into the path of the rounds and to yield againstspring pressure as a round is pushed past the catches and then to springback into position. The catches are mounted on the lower rails I02 andI06 respectively of the receiver.

The operation of the feeding mechanism is as follows: the presser arm iswithdrawn by hand and a row of rounds is placed in the receiver with theaxes of the rounds substantially parallel to the barrel of the gun, Thepresser arm is then released, and the convex surface of the curved pawlengages and is pressed against the last round in the row. Thus, byreason of the spring pressure exerted by the spring barrel device H3 onthe presser arm, the whole row of rounds in the receiver is urgedtowards that end of the receiver from which the rounds are to be takenaway from the receiver and fed to the gun.

In order to maintain a continuous feed of rounds to the gun, furtherrounds are placed in the receiver, behind the curved pawl, whil therounds originally placed in the receiver are being successively fed tothe gun. In this way it is possible to arrange that the receiver is keptconstantly filled, but of course the rounds which are put into thereceiver behind the curved pawl must be moved through the receiver byhand. The shape of the curved pawl permits the leading round placedbehind it in the receiver to be accommodated inside its curve so thatthe distance between the last of the rounds being pushed by the pawl,and the leading one of the rounds pushed in by hand behind the pawl, isvery little, see Figure 4.

It will be appreciated that while the pawl is in engagement with, andpressed against, the last of a row of rounds in the receiver, it is inits lowermost position, being held against any further downward swingingmovement by the arrangement of dogs described above.

When all, or nearly all, of the rounds originally placed in the receiverhave been moved through the receiver and fed to the gun, the presser armis manually withdrawn, and the rounds subsequently placed behind thepawl are manually held against backward movement. If, however, therounds subsequently placed behind the pawl are sufficient in numbersubstantially to fill the receiver, backward movement of the rounds isprevented by the pivoted catches mentioned above, and in that case itwill not be necessary to hold the rounds manually. Owing to its shapethe curved pawl is able to ride up over the cylindrical surface of theround behind it when the presser arm is withdrawn, and it trips over theupper surfaces of the row of rounds which have been placed behind it inthe receiver, until the presser arm has been sumciently withdrawn,whereupon the pawl snaps down behind the last of the rounds in thereceiver. When the presser arm is released the pawl will be pressed intoengagement with the last of the row of rounds in the receiver, and thewhole row will thus be urged through the receiver.

It will be appreciated that owing to the shape of the curved pawl it isable to swing upwardly from between two rounds without any greatdisplacement of either of said rounds.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In an automatic gun the combination of a round receiver in which roundsare fed along a fixed path, a presser-device movable in both directionsalong said path for feeding said rounds through the receiver, saidpresser-device including a round-engaging pawl pivoted on an axis lyingoutside of said fixed path, said pawl being bent to provide a convexforward portion normally entering said fixed path and engaging theconvex surface of a round for feeding the same forwardly in thereceiver, said pawl having a concave rear surface so shaped as to fitover and accommodate a round behind the pawl, a spring cooperating withsaid pawl and normally urging the same into said fixed path at aposition in advance of its pivot, a stop for limiting the movement ofsaid pawl in the direction in which it is urged by said spring, saidpawl being pivotable about said axis against the pressure of said springso as to ride over rounds behind it when the presser-device is movedrearwardly with respect to the direction of feed of said rounds and thensnap behind rearwardly disposed rounds in the receiver, and catch meansat the entrance to the receiver so constructed and arranged as toprevent displacement of such rearwardly disposed rounds when thepresser-device is moved rearwardly.

DESMOND WALTER, MOLINS.

REFERENCES The following references are of record in the file of thispatent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 896,453 Mangle Aug. 18, 1908807,790 Taylor Dec. 19, 1905 1,303,407 Smith May 13, 1919 2,360,035Birkigt Oct. 10, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,624 British1892 $49,943 British July '7, 1936

